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Comment by CalRobert | Hacker News Reader

Do you hit issues around things like 2fa, online banking?

All 2FA options that require a phone like TOTP can be done just as easily on a laptop with a yubikey or nitrokey.

I have several business and personal bank accounts with two major banks. No Android or iOS needed.

Sure they push you hard to use them, but just say it is against your unspecified religion. They cannot make you use Android or iOS.

In my country we actually do have a large religious community which eschews the smart phone. Therefore all services are available without one.

I can tell you with almost 100% certainty: no banks in the UK use any 2FA other than SMS-based.

I spent December last year looking for a new bank to move to. One of my criteria (not the most important but it was on the list) was better-than-SMS 2FA.

No one offers it. There may be some niche, loosely-based finance org that does but none of the banks or Building Societies do.

So, unfortunately, you need it in the UK.

Barclays, with standard current accounts, provides several methods none of which are SMS. There's a separate pin-code device (called Pinsentry) that does TOTP and challenge-response, or passcodes for both telephone and Internet banking.

Yeah, Nationwide has the little PIN code device which definitely helps with transactions but not logging in: that's still old-school.

Most VoIP services support SMS. Still no cell phone hardware required.

And your medical provider who will only allow you to see your online medical records after an SMS 2FA challenge?

(not op). I use a dumb feature phones that can receive SMS for far less than 40€ (even cheaper, but I like the music player and some other things like bluetooh for headphones). I have a "twin SIM", i.e. my mobile carier gives me a SIM with the same phone number and if somebody calls me, both phones (smartphone and feature phone) ring. SMS can only be received at one number, but you can switch the SIM for SMS reception using the carrier website. Since I only take the feature phone when I leave home (to enjoy outside time without distractions) I usually don't turn it on.

SMS-over-VoIP

Most 2FA can be done without a phone, and you can also use offline 2FA keys, not necessarily a text message.

You can also set up a phone number to accept texts from a laptop.

I can do whatever on my bank by just calling. It would be a bit weird to never be able to pitch in on meals with a $ transfer app, but I suppose when you run 2 tech companies you're probably paying most of the time, or you just take a note and transfer it later.

Do you call via landline? I don’t know anyone who even still has one.

You can take any landline phone and plug it into a VoIP ATA box which in turn plugs into your router, and you have a "landline" now.

Sure, I’ve just literally never seen anyone use one.

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